Although the road to Newark as the host for the 2018 VOICE Summit appeared seamless, it was the city’s revitalization and transformation that had an impact on the final decision. Pete Erickson, Founder and CEO of Modev and VOICE, shares the story behind Newark and VOICE18.

One Theater Square, among other developments in the City of Newark, plays a key role in the city’s revitalization. Marc Brummer, owner of a Newark staple, Hobby’s Deli, shares a trip down memory lane and the pride he has for his city.

Science Park High School senior, Brianna Aaron, got off to a rocky start this debate season and hit a wall in 3 major tournaments this year. The plateau was unpredictable across the board, even from Brianna. However, despite the setbacks, she remained optimistic: "I just had to get out of that groove in order to bounce back," said Brianna.

She did more than bounce back. After a mental reset, she went on and racked up points at major tournaments to capture the Dukes and Bailey Cup. This award makes her the best Lincoln Douglas debater in the country for the 2017-18 school year. The Dukes and Bailey cup is a highly competitive award given annually by the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA). The prestige leaves little room for error.

Aaron won by 100 points.

"To lose three tournaments at the beginning of the season, it's almost unheard of to actually come back and be awarded the overall season-long excellence award," said NDCA chair Shunta Jordan. "It was a phenomenal feat."

This week, new developments on along the vast stretch of MLK took place. Part of that change is the NJIT Campus Gateway MLK Project which will include 99 market rate studio, one and two bedroom apartments, 1,300 square feet of retail space and 100 parking spaces for tenants and patrons.

Mayor Ras Baraka and other City officials met for a groundbreaking ceremony at 240 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. The project is expected to be completed by 2020.

“It’s an example of a university town expanding,” said Baraka. “You see and know Newark is a college town.”

On April 10, Amazon made its big visit to Newark as a part of the shortlist bid. Attendees of the meeting included Gov. Phil Murphy, Mayor Ras Baraka, and Sen. Cory Booker. Members of the Amazon bid committee frequented a series of meetings, tours, and culminated with a dinner at the popular Ironbound Tapas bar, MomPou.

In a statement, Aisha Glover, CEO of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation and point person for the Amazon provided this:

"The purpose of that meeting was to fine-tune elements included in our pitch and give a first-hand look at the city we hope will be chosen for their second national headquarters," Glover said. "We will make no comment on the views and reactions of the Amazon team in order to respect the integrity of their selection process."

Newark changed the game last week and announced the introduction of LinkNWK, a free Wi-Fi network, along with the Summit Voice event, a three-day conference on the leading edge of natural language processing at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Such was not meant as a warmup for this week’s Amazon visit.

Although, perhaps it should be.

The announcements, noted by city officials, were more affirmation the Brick City is becoming a high-tech hub with a growing city center which combines business, technology, and higher education.

Those same Newark officials would be smart to emphasize the reasons why these groups came to Newark when the Amazon selection team comes to town.

While Amazon still continues to narrow down its search for a second corporate headquarters, Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (NewarkCEDC) reached out to its constituents to gauge the reaction to Newark being short-listed.

Monday, March 19th, real estate professional and government officials gathered together for an informal confab organized by Newark Regional Business Partnership. Since Newark's short-listing for the Amazon HQ2 bid, it has enhanced the city's spirit and camaraderie

In an interview with CNBC Senator Cory Booker shared his thought on Newark as the perfect fit for Amazon HQ2.

"An Amazon win would be great for the city and the state and get the world's attention. Newark is one of the best kept secrets in America with many competitive advantages. That's why it is growing and making great strides. It's transportation superstructure and tech talent pool from nearby universities are a draw for multinationals. You can hop on a train and get to New York City in 15 minutes."

New independent research confirms that Newark would be an ideal location for Amazon’s HQ2 while providing unmatched value compared to competitors. The study, conducted by respected consulting firm Anderson Economic Group (AEG), examined Newark on two important metrics—labor pool depth/diversity and cost of doing business—and compared results against top contenders New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

Like the speedy downloads that it promises to provide, the city of Newark was super quick to defend net neutrality. After the FCC voted 3 to 2 to end the Obama-era policy of requiring internet providers to treat all traffic and data equally, Newark promised to keep net neutrality going within the city’s borders.

Kris Pacunas is the CEO of GigXero, the company that manages the city-owned internet fiber.

“Every network that we’re going to operate will continue to operate under the guidelines of the former net neutrality rules,” Pacunas said. “The next level is really about delivering an open and protected internet. Something more than super fast, something more than less expensive and more secure, but open.”